So John Keys and Kevin Rudd will boycott the UN General Assembly when the PM of Fiji speaks. What childish nonsense.

They are like children in a kindergarten who lock themselves away to hide from the teacher because they are afraid of what they will hear. Is this what Mandela would do? Or Martin Luther King? How can they support international dialogue and cooperation on the one hand, and show hatred and hostility towards Fiji on the other. And what hypocrisy.

Which othercountries have they chosen to boycott? China for its conduct towards the beleaguered Tibet? France for New Caledonia? Or do they only pick on those smaller than themselves over whom they think they have the right to exercise complete control?

By this one act, both men show themselves to be lesser people than the Fijian Prime Minister. Who really is behaving like spoilt children? Unlike the Radio New Zealand journalist who tried to label Bainimarama as a spoilt child, I believe
the joint honours this week must go to Keys and Rudd.

We in Fiji with our proud history of soldiering, never leave the battlefield when then battle is on. Peter Thompson called their policies towards Fiji spiteful. I say– spiteful, cowardly and hypocritical.
Liga

Dear Mr Qarase
I have never spoken to you although I voted for your candidate in the 2001 elections. I believed then that you were the key to stability and respectability. I was wrong.First, you jumped into an unholy alliance with the CAMV, a party created to further the objectives of the 2000 coup. Its reason for existence was racism, and the marginalization of the minority groups in Fiji.Second, you jumped into an unholy alliance with corrupt businessmen who abused the government system to get government tenders and contracts at unfair prices.Third, you took no steps to stop your Cabinet ministers and senators nominated by you, from making racist hate speeches in and out of parliament.Fourth, you pretended to follow the law in 2001 after the Court of Appeal made its decision, but in reality you thumbed your nose at it with the encouragement and complicity of the Australians and New Zealanders.Fifth, you refused to appoint a multi-party Cabinet, and went to court instead, relying on your supporter Chief Justice Fatiaki to delay the hearings for so long that when the decision came out, it was time for the next elections!Sixth, you used tax-payers’ money in the Agriculture Department to buy votes from the indigenous Fijians.Seventh, when you were forced in your second term, to appoint a multi-party Cabinet, the portfolios were of such peripheral importance that Chaudhery’s resistance to it was inevitable.Eighth, you pretended to respect court decisions in the cases in which your supporters were charged with 2000 treason indictments, but you released the convicts on extra-mural orders within weeks of their incarceration.Nine, you ordered the drafting of the Reconciliation Bill, the Qoliqoli Bill and the Indigenous Tribunals Bill, legislation guaranteed to free the guilty, create uncertainty in the tourism industry, and kill freehold title.Tenth, your main advisers Naisoro, Bale and Baba seem to have been complicit in the over printing by 2,000,000 of ballot papers in the 2006 elections. The elections have been roundly criticized by the EU, the Sweetman inquiry and the Lala inquiry.Eleven, you grossly miscalculated the real threat of a military coup in 2006, and continued to employ confrontational politics with the Commander when conciliation was the wiser course of action and may have prevented a coup.Twelfth, in a last desperate attempt to preserve power, you, in an act of treason, invited the Australian and New Zealand armed forces to invade Fiji without the knowledge of the President.Thirteen, you embarked upon the disastrous court case against Bainimarama which resulted in the abrogation of the Constitution and the removal of the judiciary.

I find it quite amusing to find out about the USA’s sanctions against Fiji because of human right violations.

Whilst they preach democracy around the world they are poking their noses in countries where they dont have any baigani.

Talking about human rights violations they are the biggest violators around! One just needs to read their history to know the REAL human rights violations.

Whilst still on the subject of sanctions I pray that good sense prevails amongst our 2 big Pacific brothers. The more tighter their noose around our neck gets the more we are going to look towards Asia for help.

At 39 years old, Fiji is still moulding segments of its socio-economic and political processes. A relatively young South Pacific nation, the country has walked the tight rope through four government overthrows in two decades. Now it seriously wants that single digit figure to remain static. Critical to this objective is the need to urgently address the root causes of these political and social unrests, and to pave the way to true parliamentary democracy.

The Government of Fiji, led by Prime Minister Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama, has singled out the country’s electoral system as among the major stumbling blocks at the community and national levels because of its discernible racial undertones.

Government now seeks to address this through changing the electoral system from communal voting where constituents voted along ethnic lines, thus contributing to a racially polarised nation, to a more unifying and all-embracing system where voters from fewer open constituencies choose a representative who they believe will best represent their collective interests, irrespective of race, gender or creed.

The need to reform the electoral system to place emphasis on equal suffrage and to clearly reflect a multi-racial and progressive society had been recognised as a real need for some time. However, despite this public knowledge, certain sections of the international community, political activists and commentators, continue to relentlessly call for early elections.

This begs the question of whether holding the elections for the mere sake of adhering to the norms of constitutional democracy will help rid the country of its coup culture, or will this only offer a short-term solution? Prime Minister Bainimarama has voiced repeatedly the need to address the root causes of the coups first and foremost. The likelihood of the Prime Minister and government backing down from this objective is nil. This reflects an innate understanding of the myriad of issues, many of them latent, facing the country.

The military, the PM says, was driven by its desire to do right for the country and its citizens when it took over executive authority of the nation in December 2006. It sees itself as the last bastion of hope in as far as security is concerned. As part of the security forces, the military will need to intervene and assist the police force to bring back law and order and stabilise any political and social upheaval. The security forces now see it more important to deal with the root causes of the political upheavals instead of fire-fighting every time a government takeover happens.

The military proved this point in 2000 when armed civilians took over the elected government and held the nation to ransom. Led by Commodore Bainimarama, the military rescued the nation and returned governance to a civilian government. However, PM Bainimarama says the expectations of the nation were not met. Instead, the then elected government introduced more discriminatory policies. PM Bainimarama says this, and other issues that needed to be addressed, which the current government continue to do so, include but are not limited to corruption and scams in government that were fuelled by a powerful alliance between corrupt politicians, civil servants and unscrupulous businesspersons; the lack of political will to push for social and economic reforms; the need to speed up infrastructural development and to ensure equitable distribution of resources throughout the country; and the need to implement radical changes to the system of governance.

While patriotism is encouraged, legislations such as the iQoliqoli bill – intended to uphold indigenous rights to foreshore grounds – and the Unity and Land Tribunal bills were seen as extreme institutionalising of indigenous affairs. Such policies would have further entrenched the racial divide, hence the catalysts for the 2006 event.

Addressing the United Nations General Assembly in September 2007, PM Bainimarama described the journey Fiji has come through since gaining its independence from Britain in 1970 – “…a young nation on a rather shaky foundation with a race-based Constitution, one which rigidly compartmentalised our communities.” In his address, the PM further expressed that “the democracy which came to be practised in Fiji was marked by divisive, adversarial, inward-looking, race-based politics.”

“The legacy of leadership, at both community and national levels, was a fractured nation.” The need for change has therefore become an absolute necessity. The PM says relevant changes will also be carried out in the administration of land, a highly valued commodity in Pacific Island communities and Fiji is no exception. The gist of land reforms will take into account the need for more productive use of idle land and a fairer distribution of land lease proceeds among the landowners.

The PM adds that government will ensure the land reforms accommodate the interests of all concerned parties. Government is keen to hold general elections. When? Five years from now – in 2014. From now until then, government intends to lay the foundation for a real and meaningful democratic society. In line with that, government has embarked on various restructure programmes fulfilling its 5-year strategic framework for change. Announced last month, this now public document will guide government’s programme of work in key political and socio-economic institutions. Government, therefore, has a mammoth task ahead to implement its plans. Agreeably, five years is a batter of an eyelid – extremely short period and the Prime Minister knows that. But government aims to strategically work within its means.

A free and fair general election is also what the international community wants, among others, albeit at the earliest. Government understands that. But it also believes that for that to happen, the necessary changes will need to take place first. These changes will form part of the solution to break the cycle of coups in Fiji and to achieve government’s ultimate vision – to build a better Fiji for all its citizens under a true parliamentary democracy.

Key Targets & Timelines: 2009 to 2014
2009 to 2012: Socio-economic and infrastructural developments• including land reforms.
2012: Creation of new and modern Constitution.•
September 2014: General Elections to be held.•

New Zealand Prime Minister John Key says there is virtually no prospect of a resolution of Fiji’s military rule any time soon.

Mr Key says it is lamentable, but Fiji’s military leader, interim Prime Minister Commodore New Zealand Prime Minister John Key, intends to stay for the long haul.

During an official visit to Australia this week, Mr Key has ruled out imposing economic sanctions, saying such measures would only hurt ordinary Fijians.

He told the National Press Club in Australia’s capital of Canberra that New Zealand, like Australia, will not impose economic sanctions that would do so.

“Is there no more we can do? Well, look, not immediately, not easily. I think you’ve got a situation where you can’t force him to change, well certainly not easily and we wouldn’t propose that,” he said.

“So I do think you need to give him time and I think that’s the sense of the other Pacific leaders.”

News from reliable sources within Kadavu house has confirmed that Digicel, the Irish mobile operator, is plotting something during the Hibiscus carnival next week.
The details are sketchy but something is definitely brewing up. SCC has allowed Digicel the booking of Ratu Sukuna Park during Hibscus carnival and with people messing at Albert and Ratu Sukuna Park there can be enough space to cause disruption given the police won’t have that many resources to monitor properly.

It seems some Kadavu chiefs are colluding with digicel execs to plan a ‘bigger and better effects ‘ during the carnival.

Let’s hope common sense prevails and nothing sinister happens to disturb the carnival which everyone looks forward to every year.

Can someone ensure Digicel is not given the permit or better still SCC to cancel the booking to ensure stability . We all need to move on for a better FIJI.